Wisconsin Resources Protection Council

August 27, 2019

Eagle Herald

Dear Editor,

Aquila Resources title heading — local agreement — named parties are: Menominee County, City of Stephenson, Lake Township, Holmes, Daggett and the Village of Daggett.

The language used in the local agreement tries to make it appear to be a cooperative effort. This statement about obligations is arrogant and likely not to be accepted by local units of government. These local agreements demand that participants agree not to oppose the mine or take any action which would serve to delay the construction of the mine.

by Mark Doremus

August 23, 2019

https://www.facebook.com/back40film/

Mine developer Aquila Resources, Inc., has held at least two private, off-the-record meetings with local government officials, seeking support for its proposed Back Forty mine in Menominee County, Michigan.

August 20, 2019

Eagle Herald

Dear Editor,

The Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River Inc. filed suit in Michigan State Court contesting the signing of the Wetlands Permit which contains 28 pages of single-spaced conditions to be met by Aquila before the permit is valid. The court case is not over, so no decision has been made by Judge Pulter. Yet, Aquila has chosen to lie in their advertising on TV-6, Marquette; TV-5, Green Bay; and TV-11, Green Bay, telling the public they have all the permits and will be mining in 2020. This information is not true.

Why the sudden change to approve copper-zinc mine? Will it pollute Lake Michigan?

by Bruce Murphy

August 20, 2019

UrbanMilwaukee.com

This is a story about an open pit copper, zinc and gold mine on the border of Wisconsin and Michigan that could pollute the waters of both states, including Lake Michigan and also endanger sacred burial grounds of the Menominee Indians of Wisconsin. Scientific staff of both the State of Michigan and federal EPA had significant concerns about the proposed mine with the homey name of the Back Forty Project, and were unsatisfied with responses by Aquila Resources, a Canadian start-up company with no experience operating such a mine.

by Keith Matheny

Detroit Free Press

August 13, 2019

Over and over, Michigan environmental regulators sounded alarms as they reviewed a proposed large, open-pit ore mine in the Upper Peninsula near the Menominee River, prized for walleye fishing and a major tributary to Lake Michigan. The mine would send acidic mining wastes into the river and surrounding waterways, which would then spill into the Great Lake, staff said. More acres of wetlands would be harmed than the mining company was projecting, evaluators found.

Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and then-Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved the mine anyway.

by Keith Matheny

Detroit Free Press

August 13, 2019

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality agreed last year to participate in a web meeting with an applicant for a controversial, open-pit mine in the Upper Peninsula, specifically to avoid creating a public record out of information the applicant wanted to show the agency.

Few and far between are the opportunities to leverage 10 minutes of our time into a major win for the common good. This is one of those crucial moments. A key public comment period on the design of Aquila Resource’s Back 40 Mine’s tailings containment dam closes on July 5.

Alert citizens are warning us that an ill-advised proposal for a massive metallic sulfide gold mine located on the banks of the Menominee River, an important tributary of Lake Michigan, would bring intolerable and long lasting risks.